The government has decided to include all Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) parliamentarians in the Pakistani jirga being organised to restore peace in Afghanistan, sources said. FATA has 12 MNAs and eight senators.Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao confirmed the plan to Daily Times. He did not say when a formal notification on the matter would be issued. The government had previously appointed the interior minister as the jirgaÂ’s chief and Federal Sports and Culture Minister Dr GG Jamal, Federal States and Frontier Regions Minister Yar Muhammad Rind, NWFP Governor Ali Muhammad Jan Orakzai and Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmad Ghani as its members.
Eleven of the FATA MPs to be included in the jirga are MNAs Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Sadiq, Dr Syed Javed Hussain, Munir Khan Orakzai, Maulana Syed Nek Zaman, Maulana Abdul Malik Wazir, Maulana Muhammad Merajud Din, Maulana Muhammad Sadiq, Shahabud Din Khan, Muhammad Noorul Haq Qadri, Maulana Khalilur Rehman and Dr Naseem Gul Afridi. The senators joining the jirga are Abdul Raziq, Abdur Rashid, Hafiz Abdul Malik, Hafiz Rasheed Ahmad, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, Rashid Ahmed Khan, Maulana Muhammad Saleh Shah Qureshi and Syed Muhammad Hussain.
Officials have said that the Pakistani and Afghan jirgas would each consist of 350 members.